Remotely operated underwater mobile vehicles with measurement facilities thereon are utilized for underwater inspection survey of ship hull surfaces. Such survey is repeatedly performed by personnel to provide valuable data on surface status of the ship hulls. The measurement facilities utilized have been a source of hindrance and cause of damage to the sensing instruments associated therewith and the coatings on the hull surfaces being surveyed, because of the repetitive contact of the sensing instruments with the surfaces being surveyed under compliant personnel control during high-speed underwater movement of the sensing instruments on the mobile vehicle.
Facilities for surface measurement sensing and underwater surface survey of ship hulls as hereinbefore referred to are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,991 to Hsiao et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,405 to Oomichi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,246 to Nice and U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,646 to Fenlon.
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to avoid the disadvantages heretofore experienced during surface survey of ship hulls.